it in perspective for you, and it could enter the path some of satellites. what won't happen, nasa assures us, is this asteroid and, oh, yes, it has a name, called da 14, they say it will not hit earth. still, you cannot ignore the buzz around this out of this world event. so we have this whole team of reporters for you and analysts to bring you this historic moment. we have a so-called asteroid hunter, former astronaut, coming on live this hour and next to talk about really what will be a historic moment as 2012 da-14 brushes by us earthlings. that will start just about ten minutes from now. right now, i want to go straight to casey wian, live in pasadena, california, nasa's jet propulsion laboratory. and i imagine the excitement is palpable. they're tracking the asteroid. tell me where it is now. >> reporter: well, it is over australia, brooke. they are very excited here at jpl. it is a very, very big day. they have been tracking this asteroid for nearly a year. today is the day it is going to get closest it is going to come to the earth as you mentioned, 17,200 miles. and right now, it is